The Kids Are Alright S3 Ep3
by Bad Day at Black Rock
Summary: Dean takes them to a city based on a past "friend" and ends up finding a case, but which one is more important?
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: These fics are based on real episodes from Supernatural. The characters and plots belong to the creator and writers for the show. If you want background on the new character you can read the previous episodes.

The Kids Are Alright

Sam was furiously clicking through on his laptop while Kayla kept watch for Dean. He was trying to translate a text that was supposed to expel a demon. On the phone was Bobby, his voice of negativity.

"What do you mean you don't think it'll work Bobby? It expels a demon."

Kayla cleared her throat.

"Right, I gotta, I gotta go Bobby." He quickly snapped the laptop shut while closing his phone, Dean stepped up to the table.

"Who was that?"

"What? I was just ordering a pizza."

Kayla coughed back a laugh. "I'm going to use the bathroom." She excuse herself.

Dean eyed him. "You do realize you're in a restaurant."

"Yeah, I know. Just…really craving pizza."

"Alright, weirdo…I think I found something." Dean sat down and slid the newspaper across the table. "Cicero, Indiana. Falls on his own power saw."

Sam glanced at the article, barely reading the header. "And? That's it? A guy falls on his saw and you think that's a case?"

"I don't know, it could be."

"Well uh, it's kind of…"

"Ok, there's something better in Cicero than the case."

"What?"

"Lisa Braden."

Sam tilted his head and focused on him, trying to be absolutely sure of what was coming out of his mouth.

"What? She's a yoga instructor. Most bendy-est weekend of my life."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Have a heart Sam."

"Did you just say that to me?" He leaned in and lowered his voice. "Your girlfriend is in the bathroom while you're talking about crossing the country to hook up with some other girl, and you're telling me to have a heart?"

"You'll be working on this case, you can keep her occupied for a few hours."

"I'm not comfortable with this."

"Sam. One year. That's all I got and time's wasting."

"I'm really uncomfortable with this." He started doing that stupid, 'I'm dying' cough that didn't really make him feel bad but it did bring to mind his stupid deal. "I'm not comfortable with lying to her Dean! You shouldn't be either! If you're gonna…you know, look down other avenues before the year is up then you should be upfront with her."

Dean thought for a moment. "I'm not good with confrontation." Kayla was headed for the table. "Don't say anything to her about this. Please."

He shook his head and tucked his laptop under his arm. He couldn't catch Kayla's expression because he was pretty sure she'd read it; just in case he went to the car without a word.

"You guys fight?"

"Me and Sammy? 'Course not." Dean grinned and motioned out the door.


	2. Chapter 2

Dean dropped Sam and Kayla off at the motel to check in while he did a "preliminary scan" of the area and the case. It was an easy enough sell, he'd been on and off working more solo for the last couple weeks anyway. As he pulled up to Lisa's house he double checked the address. There were balloons tied to the mailbox.

When she opened the door she didn't even hide her enthusiasm for seeing him. "Dean."

He smiled. "Lisa, how's it going?"

"Good, good. How long has it been?"

"Eight, going on nine years now. Crazy right?"

"Yeah." She didn't stop smiling. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just passing through and I couldn't resist. I remembered how you love surprises so…"

She laughed quietly and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Sorry, you just caught me at a bad time. We're having a party."

He shrugged. "I love parties."

She invited him in and directed him past the piles of presents wrapped in cartoon character paper to the backyard where screaming kids whirled around them. Not the kind of party he was hoping for.

"Who's the party kid?"

"Ben, my son. That's him over there."

Dean followed her gaze and saw a young boy with short, medium to dark brown hair sitting at the birthday table. He was dressed in a dark, long sleeve button up shirt left open to show his black t-shirt. If Dean wasn't wearing a jacket they could have matched. The boy held up his CD gift triumphantly.

"Yes! ACDC rules!!"

_Holy hell._ "How old?"

"Eight."

_Double holy hell._

"Dean, can you excuse me a minute?"

"Yeah, don't mind me." He watched the boy for a moment; his cake had classic cars on it. Before he could think too much into it, he went to the table for some cake. Dean needed to talk to this kid. Minutes later he found him leaned against the fence facing the bouncer, also eating a piece of cake.

"Sup?" The kid greeted him casually.

"Sup with you?" He leaned against the fence next to him. They both paused to check out the mom walking by with her daughter before leaning back on the fence. "So it's your birthday."

"Guilty."

"Cool party."

"Dude it's so freaking sweet. And this moon bounce, it's epic."

_Triple holy hell. No, that deserves a holy shit._ "Yeah it's pretty awesome."

"No who else thinks they're awesome? Chicks. It's like hot chick city out there." He put his birthday cake down and jumped into the bouncer. "Look out ladies, here comes trouble!"

Dean nearly tripped over himself getting back into the kitchen. He'd be damned if that kid wasn't cloned from his exact DNA. Oh wait, he was damned anyway.

"Hey, so I met Ben. Cool kid." They both looked out the window, Ben was already hitting on some girl outside the bouncer. "I couldn't help but notice that he's turning eight."

Off his look she laughed uncomfortably and busied herself with dishes. "You're not trying to ask me if he's yours."

"No, no of course not. He's not is he?"

"What?" She straightened up. "No, no."

"Right." He looked out and watched him enthusiastically talking with the girl. There was no way.


	3. Chapter 3

Kayla was sitting on the bed in the hotel, doing research on deals with demons since she had no idea what this case was even about. Sam went to do research, which apparently he couldn't do from the room either. Something was seriously up with them. She looked up as he walked in.

"Hey."

He nodded and set his laptop down. "Hey, Dean just called. He said that there are four of these so-called 'freak accidents' that are only in one subdivision. Husbands dying."

"Weird. The other ones weren't in the paper?"

"Guess drowning in your Jacuzzi isn't cutting edge news. Get this though." He sat on the edge of the bed. "That girl from the house, the blonde, she's here. She was in the diner."

"Really? Who the heck is she?"

"I'm not really sure. A hunter I think." He held up his hand, revealing the phone number.

She laughed. "Go Sam."

"Thing is, she told me that things had happened to my mom's friends and I needed to look into it before talking to her again. I don't know who this girl is but she knows all about the psychic kids and yellow eyes."

"Huh. Well, I can help you out on the research."

They'd barely gotten a good list of names going before Dean swung by to pick up Kayla; he didn't trust Sam to keep his mouth shut if his life depended on it. He was just doing legwork now, better to keep her with him. To keep Sam busy he sent him to do some interview posing as an insurance agent.

Dean and Kayla walked the subdivision looking for any signs of demon activity. Of course everything appeared pretty normal, too freaking normal if you asked him. These cookie cutter neighborhoods were a nightmare. As they headed back through the park, Dean saw Ben sitting on a bench.

"What?"

"Nothing, I um, that first house I went to researching the accidents, they were having his birthday party." He walked over to him. "Hey Ben."

"Hey, you were at my party."

"Yeah, I'm Dean. This is Kayla."

He nodded to her but looked distracted, distraught.

"Something wrong?" Ben shrugged at him and he noted the empty case in his hand. He looked out into the field and saw a group of boys playing with some kind of game system. "Is that your game they're playing with?"

"I let them borrow it, now they won't give it back."

"You want me to…"

"No!" Ben grabbed his arm. "Don't go over there, only bitches send a grown up."

Kayla was taken back by that and she took a good look at the boy. He looked startlingly like Dean, as if the vocabulary wasn't enough.

Dean smirked. "Well you're not wrong."

"And I'm not a bitch."

He leaned over and spoke quietly to the Ben, who looked a little apprehensive about whatever was being said. Dean gave him a reassuring smile and patted him on the back. "I promise."

Ben slid off the bench and made his way over to the group of boys.

"Dean what'd you tell him?"

He grinned. "Just watch." Ben turned back to him nervously and he offered an enthusiastic thumbs up.

"Hey, Brian." Ben stood his ground as the biggest boy turned to face him. "I'd like my game back please."

"Fine. Take it back." He challenged him.

He paused and looked between Brian and the other boys before turning away.

"See guys, I told you he's…"

Kayla gasped as Ben kneed him, _twice_ in the groin before throwing the kid to the ground. "Dean you didn't."

Ben reached over and took his game, spouting off a cheerful 'thank you' as he headed back towards them. "That was awesome!"

"Up high man!" Dean gave him a high five.

"Benjamin Isaac Braden!"

His face dropped as his mother approached.

"What has gotten into you?!"

"He stole my game!"

"So you kick him?! Since when…" She snapped her attention to Dean, who's face also turned serious. "Did you tell my son to beat that kid up?"

"Relax, someone had to teach him how to kick a bully in the nads."

"Who asked you to teach him anything?" She snapped and pulled him off the bench a few feet from her son's hearing range. "What are you even still doing here? We spent one weekend together a million years ago. You don't know me, and you have no business with my son. Leave us alone."

She went back to Ben and took his hand, leading him away from them. Before they could get far Ben broke away and ran back to Dean to give him a hug.

"Thanks." He smiled to him and jogged back to his mom.

Dean watched him for a moment before side glancing to Kayla. Awkward.

She didn't say anything, at first. She let him get situated in the car and drive for a bit, he was taking gulps out of his coffee.

"Dean is that your son?"

He nearly spit out his coffee. "What?"

"He _looks_ like you, _talks_ like you and _acts_ like you."

He looked at her, fully ready to make some smartass remark about the impossibility, but her expression told him not to fuck around with it. "I don't know Kayla."

"You don't know?"

"I asked, she said no." Whether she was lying about it…

"Is that why you made us come out here? To see about this kid?"

"I didn't even know about the kid."

"Wow." She got quiet for a moment. "She must have been one hell of a lay for you to come all the way out here."

He grimaced but he didn't answer; he knew he'd hurt her, which is kind of what he meant to do and now he felt guilty about it.

"Convenient how a case popped up to cover your ass."

"Have you been talking to Sam?" He knew he wouldn't keep his mouth shut.

"Well you haven't exactly been around have you?"

Again he didn't answer, she didn't expect him to. She leaned against the corner of the seat. So this is how it was going to be; Dean was going to spend his last year sowing those oats. In spite of her instincts it did surprise her, but who was she to stop him?


	4. Chapter 4

They weren't back at the hotel for long. Sam found out that the creepy neighborhood kids were a result of changelings. According to the lore, they could mimic children perfectly. They went in the windows at night, snatched the kids and sent in a replacement. The positive thing about it was that the kids were most likely still alive.

With this new information, Dean of course wanted to go to Lisa's house to check on Ben before trying to find the rest of the kids. Kayla waited in the car with Sam.

She cleared her throat. "This woman that lives here, the one he slept with, he thinks the kid is his."

"Really?"

"I knew you knew about this! Why didn't you tell me? Sam, we came all the way here so he could try to sleep with some…"

"But he hasn't."

"Well not by his decision I can guarantee it."

Dean opened the door and slid into the drivers seat. "Ben's already been taken, it's a changeling."

"What? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I checked his window."

"You found the blood?"

"It's not blood. But I think I know where the kids are." He shifted into drive, the tires screeched as they lurched around the corner.

Dean pulled into a new construction home down the street; it wasn't more than a completed frame and there was a pile of red dirt by the curb. It wasn't blood on the windows after all.

"Split up," Dean nodded to Sam as they walked into the house. "Look for the kids."

Kayla started to split off but Dean grabbed her by the shoulder. "Stay with me."

_Great, we're back to the chivalry again._

As they passed the basement steps faint noises could be heard from below. They exchanged glances to acknowledge the noise before silently descending the staircase. What they found downstairs matched the lore on changelings; the children were being kept alive in wire cages.

Dean smiled in relief and put his hand over Ben's cage. "Ben, hey we're gonna get you out of here ok?" He pulled on the cage around the edges, looking for the weak spot.

"I thought changelings only took children."

"That's what the research said. Well, actually it said they can mimic children perfectly which is why they take them."

Kayla looked at the woman in the large cage in front of her; she looked rough, weak. "Well I think they're getting better."

After a quick search he found a crowbar and started breaking the locks on the cages. They had to work fast, the last thing they needed was a changeling encounter with all these kids. When they were freed he broke the window.

"Here!" Ben pulled his jacked off. "Use this."

Dean laid the jacked over the broken glass. "Ben come on."

"Him first." He pulled one of the other children forward.

Kayla and Dean only had a brief moment to note the selfless act before mommy changeling showed up. She took Kayla out first, she was getting used to that, being seen as the weakest link. Not this time.

Sam ran in and tried to light her up but she kicked the lighter from him and knocked him aside before getting into it with Dean.

"Ben get 'em out of here!" Dean yelled. Ben was already pulling a bucket over for the kids to stand up to make their escape. That was a resourceful kid.

Kayla inched her hand up and grabbed the lighter. The kids were almost out and she waited for Ben to get through the window; they didn't need to see her go up in smoke. She turned towards Sam and he slid the can over. As the woman went to take another swing at Dean, she lit the blowtorch and the changeling screamed into pieces of ash.


	5. Chapter 5

Dean parked in Ben's driveway. There was one other kid besides him to drop off, a girl that lived two houses down. Kayla opened the door and motioned the girl out.

"Come on sweetheart me and Sam will bring you home."

Kayla took her hand as she stepped out and gave Dean a reassuring smile. Whatever he was going to do he might as well just do it. Sam got out and walked with them down the street as Dean brought Ben inside.

Sam knocked on the door, within moments an ecstatic mother slung it open.

"Oh my God!" She threw her arms around the girl, smothering her in hugs and kisses. "My baby, what happened?!" More hugs and kisses, Sam and Kayla tried to back up slowly but she looked at them. "You found her? I knew that thing wasn't my daughter. What the hell is going on?"

They exchanged a look, Kayla smiled slightly. "Mam you're better off not knowing. She's safe, they never harmed her."

The woman looked at her a moment and seemed to accept the idea, she probably really didn't want to know the truth. Her daughter was back and that's all that mattered. She stood and hugged them both. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

Sam nodded to her. "We're glad she's ok." They walked back down the driveway onto the street. "Ben does look like him."

"No kidding."

"Dean having a kid, I'm not really sure what to think about that." He paused. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you the truth about coming out here."

"You're gonna be."

He smirked and opened the passenger door of the Impala. "I'm trembling."

"Don't underestimate me Sam, I will mess you up. You won't even see it coming."

He closed the door behind her and got into the back seat. Before he could give her a comeback Dean got into the car.

"She did a blood test when he was a baby, the kid's not mine." He cranked the engine and left the subdivision.

After a brief silence Kayla glanced at him; he sure was hard concentrated on something. "I'm sorry."

"Please don't make me feel any worse than I do right now."

"I know you were probably looking forward to leaving a son behind, that's all."

He shook his head and loosened his grip on the steering wheel. "I'm sorry we came here."

That much was true, what the hell was he thinking? He didn't even know anymore. His original idea was backfiring in his face; to push Kayla away so when this deal did come to pass it wouldn't be as hard on her. Now that it was in the works he didn't like the results. Dean didn't _want_ to push her away. What if they did find a way out of this thing where he and Sammy get to live, and he spent the entire year putting distance between them?

Worse yet, what if the deal couldn't be broken and his time ran out? Did he want his last year to be spent the same as the rest of his life? Chasing down women he didn't even know and pushing the only thing concrete in his life away from him? It was making his head hurt.

Dean drove back to the hotel with one thing certain in his mind. _Tonight,_ he wanted Kayla. He knew that much. If he had to take this one day at a time so be it.


	6. Chapter 6

Sam stood in his room in front of super-hunter-girl, explaining the results of the research. "They're all dead. Not only my mom's friends, but her family, her doctors, hell everyone who knew her was wiped off the planet one at a time. Someone went through a lot of trouble to cover their tracks."

"Yep, the yellow eyed demon."

Of course she already knew all this. "What's your deal? You show up, you know all about me, all about my mom…"

"I already told you."

"Right." Bullshit. "You're a really good hunter. A hunter that knows more about my family than I do." He walked towards her. "Tell me who you are."

She tried to be coy and smiled a little. "It's not important who…"

"Tell me who you are!" He shouted at her, he was done with this stupid game.

"Fine." She closed her eyes and when she looked at him again they were solid black. She was a demon.

Sam immediately backtracked towards his bag.

"Think twice before going for that holy water." She didn't even run.

"Give me one good reason."

"I'm here to help you Sam. God's honest truth, or, whatever…"

"You're a demon."

"Don't be such a racist." She approached him, despite the grip he had on the holy water. "I'm here because I want to help you."

"Start talking." He pointed the holy water at her. "All those murders, what was he trying to cover up? Why kill all my mom's friends?"

"I honestly don't know, that's what I'm trying to figure out. All I know is that it's about you. It's _all_ about you Sam, he was trying to cover up what he did to you. I want to help you figure it out."

"Why would you help me?"

"I have my reasons. Not all demons are the same, not all of us want the same thing. Me? I want to help you from time to time. And if you let me, there's something in it for you."

"What could you possibly give me?"

"I can help you save your brother."

She left that night without another word, nothing else needed to be said. The alliance had been set, for now anyway. She could pop in whenever she wanted for all he cared as long as she offered some kind of insight of how to save Dean. _A demon who wants to help me._ So what? They'd come across vampires who didn't kill humans, and psychics from yellow eyes that didn't use their powers for bad, why couldn't demons be part of the exception? He'd try anything at this point.


End file.
